North Carolina Word Search Printable

Print a 16-word puzzle that opens with Kitty Hawk, Cape Hatteras, Cherokee and Hellbender, answer key on its own page.

Name Date

North Carolina Word Search

Find every word hidden in the grid. Words go across and down.

0 of 16 words found

MPLOTTHOUNDLICO

BFMLJNTMAQWOBAJ

LRKDFSZOCCRSIHK

UAOBGWIUAAITAIN

ESTAREINPRGCTTD

REKLHEFTEDHOPKO

IRIDETQMHITLIXM

DFTYLPTIANBOECE

GITILORTTARNDHU

ERYMBTOCTLOYMEU

EAHGEAAHEJTRORH

TGAANTNERNHZNOL

SMWKDOOLAPENTKU

ROKZEUKLSYRSOET

UNBARBECUESCEEI

This grid is wider and taller than its box. Slide it to see every letter.To drag, hold the first letter for a moment, then slide.Keyboard: Tab to the grid, arrow keys to move, Enter on the first and last letter.

Kitty HawkKITTY HAWK
Blue RidgeBLUE RIDGE
Mount MitchellMOUNT MITCHELL
PiedmontPIEDMONT
Cape HatterasCAPE HATTERAS
Old BaldyOLD BALDY
CardinalCARDINAL
Sweet PotatoSWEET POTATO
Plott HoundPLOTT HOUND
Fraser FirFRASER FIR
BarbecueBARBECUE
Lost ColonyLOST COLONY
RoanokeROANOKE
Wright BrothersWRIGHT BROTHERS
CherokeeCHEROKEE
HellbenderHELLBENDER

16 of 29 words from the North Carolina Favorites list.

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Answer key: North Carolina Word Search

MPLOTTHOUNDLICO

BFMLJNTMAQWOBAJ

LRKDFSZOCCRSIHK

UAOBGWIUAAITAIN

ESTAREINPRGCTTD

REKLHEFTEDHOPKO

IRIDETQMHITLIXM

DFTYLPTIANBOECE

GITILORTTARNDHU

ERYMBTOCTLOYMEU

EAHGEAAHEJTRORH

TGAANTNERNHZNOL

SMWKDOOLAPENTKU

ROKZEUKLSYRSOET

UNBARBECUESCEEI

KITTY HAWK, BLUE RIDGE, MOUNT MITCHELL, PIEDMONT, CAPE HATTERAS, OLD BALDY, CARDINAL, SWEET POTATO, PLOTT HOUND, FRASER FIR, BARBECUE, LOST COLONY, ROANOKE, WRIGHT BROTHERS, CHEROKEE, HELLBENDER

Next step Make a word search from your own county and town names Scramble the lighthouse names

All 219 words

North Carolina Cities and Towns 26

Asheville Mountain city where the French Broad and Swannanoa rivers meet, ringed by the Blue Ridge.
Beaufort Old seaport near Cape Lookout with a maritime museum.
Blowing Rock Blue Ridge village named for a cliff where wind sweeps up from the gorge below.
Boone Mountain town named for a famous frontiersman called Daniel; home of Appalachian State University.
Cary Town west of Raleigh in Wake County, part of the Research Triangle.
Chapel Hill Piedmont town that grew up around the state university's flagship campus, a corner of the Research Triangle.
Charlotte Largest city in the state, a banking center named for a British queen.
Durham City that is home to Duke University and forms a corner of the Research Triangle.
Edenton Colonial town on Albemarle Sound where women signed a famous protest against British tea.
Elizabeth City Harbor town on the Pasquotank River near the Dismal Swamp Canal.
Fayetteville City on the Cape Fear River named for the Marquis de Lafayette.
Greensboro Piedmont city named for General Nathanael Greene, where students held a famous lunch counter protest.
Greenville College city on the Tar River, home of East Carolina University.
Hendersonville Mountain town in apple-growing country south of Asheville.

Show all 219 words (205 more)

North Carolina Cities and Towns, continued

Hickory Foothills city long known for furniture factories.
High Point Piedmont city famous for furniture making and its big furniture market.
Kitty Hawk Outer Banks town whose name is tied to the Wright brothers' flying experiments.
Lexington Piedmont town known for its own style of pork barbecue.
Manteo Town on Roanoke Island named for a Croatan man who traveled to England.
Morehead City Port town on Bogue Sound, across the water from Beaufort.
Mount Airy Foothills town known for its huge granite quarry.
New Bern Riverside town founded by Swiss and German settlers; the colonial capital, with Tryon Palace.
Pinehurst Sandhills village laid out as a resort and famed for golf.
Raleigh State capital, named for the knight who sponsored the Roanoke voyages.
Wilmington Port city on the Cape Fear River where a World War II battleship is moored as a memorial.
Winston-Salem Twin City formed when a Moravian town and its younger neighbor merged.

North Carolina Mountains and Rivers 28

Appalachian Name of the long eastern mountain system and of a hiking trail that follows the Tennessee line here.
Bald Treeless, grassy mountaintop, as on Roan Mountain and Max Patch.
Blue Ridge Mountain chain in the west whose forested slopes look hazy from a distance.
Catawba River of the western Piedmont, dammed into a chain of lakes such as Norman and Wylie.
Chimney Rock Granite tower above Hickory Nut Gorge with a state park around it.
Coastal Plain Flat eastern lowland that covers about half the state.
Cove Sheltered mountain valley with rich soil.
Fall Line Zone where rivers drop from the Piedmont onto the coastal plain in rapids.
Fontana Name of a tall dam and deep reservoir on the Little Tennessee River beside the Smokies.
French Broad Mountain river that runs northward past Asheville and on into Tennessee.
Gorge Steep-walled river valley; the Linville one is nicknamed the Grand Canyon of North Carolina.
Grandfather Name of a rugged Blue Ridge peak whose ridgeline looks like the profile of an old man's face.
Hanging Rock State park in the Sauratown Mountains with cliffs and waterfalls.
Kuwohi Summit in the Smokies with a spiral observation tower, long known as Clingmans Dome.
Lake Norman Reservoir on the Catawba River north of Charlotte.
Linville Name of a deep wilderness gorge and of the falls that plunge into it.
Looking Glass Name of a bare granite dome and of a roadside waterfall in the forest near Brevard.
Mount Mitchell Summit in the Black Mountains, 6,684 feet high, the highest point anywhere east of the Mississippi River.
Nantahala National forest and river gorge in the far west, popular for whitewater rafting.
Neuse River that runs from the Piedmont past Kinston and New Bern to Pamlico Sound.
Parkway Scenic road; the Blue Ridge one winds along the mountain crest toward the Smokies.
Piedmont Rolling plateau between the mountains and the coastal plain, where the big cities stand.
Pilot Mountain Lone quartzite knob with a rounded cap of bare cliffs that rises above the Piedmont.
Pisgah National forest of the mountains, known for waterfalls and the Cradle of Forestry.
Sandhills Region of deep sandy soil and longleaf pines in the south-central part of the state.
Smokies Short name of the misty range on the Tennessee line, protected as a national park.
Uwharrie Name of an ancient, worn-down mountain range and national forest in the Piedmont.
Yadkin River that crosses the Piedmont and becomes the Pee Dee downstream.

Outer Banks and Coast 28

Albemarle Sound in the northeast fed by the Roanoke and Chowan rivers.
Bald Cypress Swamp tree with knobby knees; ancient ones stand along the Black River.
Banker Horse Small, hardy wild breed descended from Spanish stock, living on the islands.
Barrier Island Long sandy strip that runs beside the mainland and takes the force of storm waves.
Cape Fear Headland on Bald Head Island and the river that reaches the sea beside it.
Carolina Bay Oval, shallow hollow of the coastal plain, often holding a pond or bog.
Corolla Village in the far north of the banks where wild horses roam the beach.
Croatan National forest of pine woods and bogs near New Bern.
Dismal Swamp Vast forested wetland on the Virginia line, crossed by an old canal.
Estuary Mixing zone of river and sea water; the Albemarle and Pamlico sounds form a huge one.
Ferry Vessel of the state fleet that links Hatteras with Ocracoke and crosses the wide river mouths.
Hurricane Powerful spinning storm from the tropics that brings high winds and flooding to the coast.
Inlet Gap between islands where tides pass between sound and sea, such as Oregon and Hatteras.
Jockey's Ridge State park with a giant, shifting sand dune where people fly kites and hang gliders.
Loggerhead Sea turtle that crawls ashore on summer nights to nest on the beaches.
Marsh Grassy wetland along the sounds that floods with the tide.
Mattamuskeet Name of a broad, shallow natural lake and wildlife refuge visited by tundra swans.
Nags Head Beach town beside the tall dunes of Jockey's Ridge.
Outer Banks String of narrow barrier islands that shelter the sounds from the open Atlantic.
Pamlico Broad, shallow sound behind Hatteras and Ocracoke.
Pocosin Shrubby bog of the coastal plain on deep peat; an Algonquian word.
Red Wolf Rare wild canine returned to the Alligator River refuge.
Sand Dune Hill of windblown grains; sea oats help hold it in place on the banks.
Sea Oats Tall beach grass with nodding seed heads whose roots anchor dunes.
Sound Wide, sheltered body of water between the banks and the mainland.
Topsail Name of a long barrier island with a sea turtle hospital.
Venus Flytrap Meat-eating plant with snapping leaves, native to bogs near Wilmington.
Wrightsville Name of a beach town on a barrier island just east of Wilmington.

North Carolina Lighthouses 22

Beacon Light that guides ships past the shoals at night.
Bodie Island Light station south of Nags Head painted in black and white horizontal bands.
Cape Hatteras Light tower with black and white spiral stripes that was moved inland in 1999 to escape the eroding shore.
Cape Lookout Light tower painted in a black and white diamond pattern.
Currituck Light tower at Corolla left as unpainted red brick.
Daymark Paint pattern that lets sailors tell one light tower from another in daylight.
Diamond Shoals Shifting sandbars off Cape Hatteras once marked by a lightship.
Fresnel Lens Beehive of glass prisms that bends lamp light into a strong beam.
Frying Pan Name of the shoals off Cape Fear, marked by a lightship and later an offshore tower.
Gulf Stream Warm ocean current that flows north along the southeastern coast before crossing the Atlantic.
Keeper Person who lived at a light station and kept the lamp burning.
Lantern Room Glass-walled chamber at the top of the tower that holds the lens.
Lifesaving Work of the surfmen who rowed out from shore stations to rescue crews in trouble.
Lightship Anchored vessel with a lamp on its mast, used where no tower could be built.
Oak Island Light tower at Caswell Beach, by the mouth of the Cape Fear River, with gray, white and black bands.
Ocracoke Island village with a short, solid white light tower.
Old Baldy Nickname of the weathered light tower on Bald Head Island.
Sandbar Underwater ridge built by currents, a danger to passing vessels.
Screwpile Kind of light station built on iron legs twisted into the muddy bottom of a sound.
Shipwreck Remains of a sunken vessel; so many lie off the banks that the waters are called the Graveyard of the Atlantic.
Spiral Stairs Winding steps inside the tower.
Surfman Rescuer at a coastal station, such as those of the Pea Island crew.

North Carolina State Symbols 28

Blueberry Named the state blue berry; farms in the southeast grow it.
Box Turtle State reptile, a land dweller with a high, patterned shell.
Brook Trout Fish of cold mountain streams whose Southern Appalachian strain is an official state symbol.
Cardinal Crested scarlet songbird chosen as the state bird.
Carolina Lily Orange spotted state wildflower with petals curled back.
Clogging State folk dance, with fast footwork that taps out the beat.
Dogwood Small flowering tree whose bloom is the state flower.
Emerald Green state precious stone, mined near Hiddenite.
Fraser Fir State Christmas tree, native to the high southern Appalachians.
Gold State mineral; a boy's find in a Cabarrus County creek started mining at the Reed farm.
Granite State rock; a huge quarry of it lies at Mount Airy.
Gray Squirrel Bushy-tailed state mammal.
Honeybee State insect, kept in hives for pollination.
Longleaf Pine Tall southern conifer with long needles, named in the opening line of the official state toast.
Megalodon Giant extinct shark whose fossil teeth are the state fossil.
Mustang The Colonial Spanish kind is the state horse.
Old North State Nickname and title of the official song.
Opossum State marsupial, a gray night prowler that plays dead when badly scared.
Plott Hound State dog, bred in the mountains to track bear.
Red Drum State saltwater fish, also called channel bass.
Salamander The marbled kind is the official one of the state.
Scotch Bonnet State shell, home of a sea snail.
Scuppernong Bronze-green grape named for a river, a kind of the muscadine that is the state fruit.
Stock Car Racing State sport, run on oval tracks.
Sweet Potato Root crop with orange flesh, made the state vegetable after schoolchildren asked for it.
Tar Heel Nickname for a North Carolinian and for the state.
Treefrog The Pine Barrens kind is the state frog.
Whirligig Wind-driven folk art named an official state symbol.

North Carolina Farms, Food and Factories 29

Apple Fruit of mountain orchards around Hendersonville.
Banking Money business that made Charlotte a national financial center.
Barbecue Slow-cooked pork, pulled or chopped, with a vinegar sauce that differs from east to west.
Biscuit Soft, flaky quick bread split and filled at breakfast.
Blue Crab Shellfish with paddle-shaped back legs, caught in pots in the sounds.
Collards Leafy greens simmered as a side dish.
Corn Grain crop of the coastal plain, fed to hogs and poultry.
Cotton Fiber crop that once fed the spinning mills of the Piedmont.
Feldspar Mineral used in glass and ceramics, mined around Spruce Pine.
Flounder Flatfish of sounds and inlets with both eyes on one side.
Furniture Chairs, tables and beds; factories around High Point and Hickory made the state famous for them.
Grits Ground corn boiled into a soft breakfast porridge.
Hog Pig raised for pork, a leading farm product in the southeast.
Hush Puppy Fried ball of cornmeal batter served beside fish or pork.
Loom Weaving machine that filled the mills of Piedmont towns.
Lumber Sawn timber from the pine forests of the coastal plain.
Mica Glittery mineral that splits into thin sheets, mined around Spruce Pine.
Muscadine Southern grape with a tough hull, bronze or dark purple when ripe; state law names it the official fruit.
Oyster Shellfish gathered from reefs in the sounds.
Peach Fruit of orchards around Candor, which calls itself the state's capital of the crop.
Peanut Pod that ripens below the soil, a crop of the northeastern counties.
Pottery Clay jugs and bowls shaped by hand around Seagrove.
Poultry Chickens and turkeys raised in long barns, a leading farm product.
Quartz Hard mineral; very pure deposits near Spruce Pine go into computer chips.
Shrimp Shellfish netted by trawlers in the sounds.
Soybean Bean crop grown for oil and animal feed across the east.
Textile Woven or knitted cloth, long the leading industry of Piedmont mill towns.
Triangle Short name of the research region anchored by Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill.
Turkey Large farm bird raised in the eastern counties.

Lost Colony and First Flight 28

Bennett Place Farmhouse near Durham where Generals Johnston and Sherman agreed terms of surrender.
Cherokee Native nation of the southern mountains; its Eastern Band lives on the Qualla Boundary.
Croatoan Word found carved on a post where the missing settlers had lived.
First Flight Event of December 17, 1903, at Kill Devil Hills, honored on the state's license plates.
Flyer Name the brothers gave their powered airplane.
Fort Fisher Earthen Confederate stronghold that guarded the river approach to Wilmington.
Fort Macon Brick stronghold on Bogue Banks, now a state park.
Fort Raleigh National historic site on Roanoke Island that preserves the settlers' earthwork.
Glider Engineless aircraft the brothers tested on the dunes before adding a motor.
Guilford Name of the courthouse battlefield at Greensboro, now a national military park.
Halifax Town whose Resolves backed independence from Britain; their date is on the state flag.
Lost Colony English settlement on Roanoke Island whose people had vanished when ships returned.
Lumbee Native people centered on Robeson County and the Lumber River, from which they take their name.
Mecklenburg County around Charlotte; the date of its disputed declaration is on the state flag.
Monitor Ironclad warship that sank in a storm off Cape Hatteras.
Moores Creek Bridge where Patriots defeated Loyalists early in the Revolution; now a national battlefield.
Moravian Member of a Protestant church whose settlers founded Salem and Bethabara.
Naval Stores Tar, pitch and turpentine made from pine sap for wooden ships.
Old Salem Restored Moravian settlement, now a living history museum with costumed guides.
Qualla Name of the land held in trust for the Eastern Band beside the Smokies.
Roanoke Island between the banks and the mainland where the English tried to settle in 1585.
Sit-In Peaceful protest of sitting where service is refused; a famous one began at a Greensboro lunch counter.
Statehood Full membership in the Union; this state ratified the Constitution in 1789 as the twelfth to do so.
Tryon Palace Rebuilt governor's mansion at New Bern, seat of the colonial government.
Turpentine Sharp-smelling liquid distilled from pine resin.
Tuscarora Iroquoian-speaking people of the coastal plain; many moved north to join the Haudenosaunee.
Virginia Dare Baby girl born to the Roanoke settlers; a county is named for her.
Wright Brothers Orville and Wilbur, bicycle makers from Ohio who flew a powered airplane on the Outer Banks in 1903.

North Carolina Wildlife and Plants 30

Alligator Big reptile of coastal swamps; this state is the northern edge of its range.
Black Bear Shaggy forest animal common in the Smokies and in the swamps near the coast.
Bobwhite Small quail named for its whistled call.
Chickadee Small bird with a black cap; one kind is named for the Carolinas.
Copperhead Venomous snake with hourglass bands.
Elk Big deer returned to Cataloochee Valley in the Smokies.
Firefly Glowing beetle; one kind in the Smokies flashes in unison.
Flame Azalea Wild shrub with fiery orange blossoms.
Flying Squirrel Night glider with skin flaps between its legs.
Galax Evergreen ground plant with shiny round leaves gathered for wreaths.
Ginseng Woodland herb whose forked root is dug for sale.
Hellbender Giant wrinkled salamander of clear mountain rivers.
Heron Long-legged wader that stalks fish in the sounds and marshes.
Kudzu Fast-growing vine from Asia that smothers trees.
Live Oak Spreading evergreen tree of the coast, often draped in Spanish moss.
Luna Moth Pale green night flier with long tails on its wings.
Magnolia Tree with huge glossy leaves and big creamy blossoms.
Mountain Laurel Evergreen shrub with clusters of cup-shaped pink flowers.
Osprey Fish-eating hawk that nests on channel markers.
Painted Bunting Rainbow-colored songbird of the southeast coast.
Pitcher Plant Bog dweller that traps insects in tube-shaped leaves.
Rhododendron Shrub whose pink and purple blooms cover Roan Mountain in June.
River Otter Sleek, playful swimmer that hunts fish in streams and marshes.
Spanish Moss Gray air plant that hangs from branches.
Trillium Woodland spring wildflower with its leaves and petals in threes.
Tulip Poplar Tall straight tree with cup-shaped yellow-green flowers.
Tundra Swan White waterfowl that winters on the lakes of the coastal plain.
Whitetail Deer that flashes the pale underside of its tail as it runs.
Wood Duck Colorful waterfowl that nests in tree holes.
Wren Tiny singer with a cocked tail and a loud teakettle call; one kind is named for the Carolinas.

How this list was compiled: Own work. Words and names about the state of North Carolina, chosen and described for grades 2 to 8: eight themed lists (cities and towns, mountains and rivers, the Outer Banks and coast, lighthouses, state symbols, farms, food and factories, the Lost Colony and the first flight, wildlife and plants), North Carolina Favorites, an easy list of every word of 3 to 5 letters and a hard list of every word of 8 letters or more. The grid keeps only the letters A to Z, so Kitty Hawk is hidden as KITTYHAWK and Jockey's Ridge as JOCKEYSRIDGE. Entries have 3 to 14 letters once spaces, hyphens and apostrophes are dropped, and inside one list no word sits inside another, forwards or backwards. Clues are our own wording; no clue repeats a word of four letters or more from its own entry. No brand, team, living person, fictional character or drink is listed. American spellings. Places, names and state symbols were checked on 3 October 2026 against the English Wikipedia article North Carolina, its list of North Carolina state symbols and the article for each entry (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Carolina, license CC BY-SA 4.0). Numbers and records were checked the same day in a second work: Store norske leksikon (https://snl.no/Nord-Carolina) for the largest city, the 1585 settlement, the coastal plain and the year of statehood; North Carolina State Parks (https://www.ncparks.gov/state-parks/mount-mitchell-state-park) for Mount Mitchell; the National Park Service for the flight of December 17, 1903 (https://www.nps.gov/wrbr/) and the 1999 move of the Cape Hatteras light (https://www.nps.gov/caha/). The state fruit and the freshwater trout follow General Statutes Chapter 145 (ncleg.gov), read the same day. Where no second work gave a figure or a record, the clue leaves it out. Unofficial and not affiliated with the State of North Carolina; an educational puzzle, so check the official source before you rely on a fact. Licence: own work

How it works

This North Carolina word search opens on favorites such as Blue Ridge, Old Baldy, Lost Colony and Wright Brothers. Start from a list adds eight themed lists, among them lighthouses and state symbols, plus easy and hard lists.

Read the full guide

Tell the lighthouses by their paint

North Carolina Lighthouses has the coastal towers and the words of a light station. Tick Show clues, not words, and each tower is known by its daymark: spiral stripes for Cape Hatteras, diamonds for Cape Lookout, bands for Bodie Island, bare red brick for Currituck. Pupils name the tower, then find it.

From the mountains to the sea

Mountains and Rivers runs from Mount Mitchell and Kuwohi down the Yadkin and the Neuse. Outer Banks and Coast picks up at Pamlico, Jockey's Ridge and Cape Fear. Print one of each and a class has the state from west to east.

Two-word names lose their space in the grid: Kitty Hawk hides as KITTYHAWK and Plott Hound as PLOTTHOUND.
Easy North Carolina has the words of 3 to 5 letters, such as Elk, Wren, Cove, Gold and Grits.

Questions and answers

Which North Carolina lighthouses are in the puzzle?

Cape Hatteras, Bodie Island, Currituck, Ocracoke, Cape Lookout, Oak Island and Old Baldy, the nickname of the Bald Head light. The same list has Diamond Shoals and Frying Pan, the sandbars the lights warn of.

Is the Lost Colony in the word search?

Yes. The Lost Colony and First Flight list has Roanoke, Croatoan, Virginia Dare and Fort Raleigh, then Wright Brothers, Glider and Flyer, and the Cherokee, Tuscarora and Lumbee peoples.

What North Carolina state symbols does it include?

Cardinal (state bird), Dogwood (state flower), Gray Squirrel, Box Turtle, Plott Hound (state dog), Sweet Potato (state vegetable), Scuppernong (a kind of muscadine, the state fruit), Fraser Fir, Emerald, Granite and the nickname Tar Heel are in North Carolina State Symbols.

How do I print it for a whole class?

Press Print or save as PDF. Each sheet has a Name and Date line and the answer key prints on a page of its own. For a different grid on each table, press New puzzle before each printout.

All 219 words

North Carolina Cities and Towns 26

North Carolina Cities and Towns, continued

North Carolina Mountains and Rivers 28

Outer Banks and Coast 28

North Carolina Lighthouses 22

North Carolina State Symbols 28

North Carolina Farms, Food and Factories 29

Lost Colony and First Flight 28

North Carolina Wildlife and Plants 30

How it works

Tell the lighthouses by their paint

From the mountains to the sea

Questions and answers

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